The invention relates to precisely positioning two components with respect to one another and, more particularly, to a locating apparatus which secures together the components.
During the machining of a workpiece, the workpiece is held within a vise or other holding device, which is secured to either an adapter plate or directly to a subplate. The base of the vise has holes which may be aligned with holes in the adapter plate or subplate. An alignment pin, which is formed of metal, is inserted through a hole in the vise or adapter plate and a hole in the subplate for accurately and precisely positioning the vise.
Currently, the alignment pin is either a standard dowel pin or a dowel pin having one expandable end. The expandable end is expanded after the dowel pin is positioned within the hole for securing the pin within the hole. The opposite end of the alignment pin may be tapped into a hole and must be precisely sized to provide a secure fit. Removal of the tapped in end of the alignment pin is often difficult.
A locating pin is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,079 entitled "Removable and Replaceable Locating Pin for Locating a Workpiece on a Sub-Plate for Machining". The locating pin includes a receiver bushing and a locator pin disposed therein. A plurality of balls are positioned in apertures in the locator pin and may be urged into locking engagement with the receiver bushing. However, only one end of the locating pin is expandable.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,707,419 discloses a fixture key which is slotted to facilitate spreading apart of the portions of the shank intermediate the slots. A ball is positioned within a bore of the shank and is held in position by a screw threadedly secured within the bore. However, the fixture key is only expandable at one end for securing the fixture key within a bore of a plate.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus for securing two components together which utilizes means for expanding both ends of a pin for securement of the pin to both components.